Quote:
A soccer camp for children in Calgary is using the sport to create community and bring new Canadians together — despite participants speaking different languages and coming from more than 30 countries.
The organization, Soccer Without Boundaries, says its free summer camp and year-round program at the Glenbrook Community Association welcomes new Canadians, refugees, low-income families and anyone who enjoys the game and wants to get involved.
The executive director and founder, Jean-Claude Munyezamu, says he came up with the idea when he came across newcomer kids in his neighbourhood.
"I saw that the kids needed something to do. They were getting in trouble, there was graffiti and there was shoplifting in the neighbourhood," he said.
"So I brought a soccer ball and invited the parents and that's how we started."
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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/dont-speak...194153186.html
Jean-Claude used to be a Neighbour of mine and I've been involved in various soccer programs throughout the City and spoken with him at length about this program and his ideas as well as growth opportunities and comparisons to other soccer programs around the City.
Hes a great guy, despite some despicable choices of teams to cheer for (and some good ones! Cavalry!) he is really inspiring and caring and freely giving of his time, sometimes too much so to his wife's chagrin!
Its a very cool initiative that he took and its great to see him getting some results and hopefully some additional recognition will help his program grow.
This is a solid example of the Community and Volunteer spirit in Calgary.